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A review by csistek
Charisma's Turn: A Graphic Novel by Monique Couvson, Monique W. Morris
4.0
Thank you to New Press for the complimentary copy!
This had such a great message and excellent art (though sometimes the white font was hard to read on the background), but it was just too rushed and short. I felt we didn't get the whole story; chapters end quickly and start up after some time has passed, with a couple of them feeling as though we've missed something important in between, and the whole book ends abruptly to favor having the last page be Charisma's final lines of speech at the benefit event she and her partner DeVante have put together. This is fine, but there could have been just a single extra page or panel of nothing but art that shows us that everyone in the audience was listening and has a reaction or something to show that change was being made as a result of her leadership.
Environmental racism is a major focus in this, as well as mental health and behavioral therapy. Charisma has issues with people not treating her as though her thoughts matter and she lashes out often. One of her teachers, Ms. Anderson, does an amazing job of helping her work through why she does this and how she can redirect her energy toward something more productive and healthier that also highlights her passions and abilities. These techniques and the basis of the after-school social justice group Charisma ends up joining can absolutely be recreated in a real world setting by students who read this book. This is why I definitely recommend this book! I just wish we had more of it.
The foreword is also something you don't want to pass up reading. It's just as important as the story itself.
This had such a great message and excellent art (though sometimes the white font was hard to read on the background), but it was just too rushed and short. I felt we didn't get the whole story; chapters end quickly and start up after some time has passed, with a couple of them feeling as though we've missed something important in between, and the whole book ends abruptly to favor having the last page be Charisma's final lines of speech at the benefit event she and her partner DeVante have put together. This is fine, but there could have been just a single extra page or panel of nothing but art that shows us that everyone in the audience was listening and has a reaction or something to show that change was being made as a result of her leadership.
Environmental racism is a major focus in this, as well as mental health and behavioral therapy. Charisma has issues with people not treating her as though her thoughts matter and she lashes out often. One of her teachers, Ms. Anderson, does an amazing job of helping her work through why she does this and how she can redirect her energy toward something more productive and healthier that also highlights her passions and abilities. These techniques and the basis of the after-school social justice group Charisma ends up joining can absolutely be recreated in a real world setting by students who read this book. This is why I definitely recommend this book! I just wish we had more of it.
The foreword is also something you don't want to pass up reading. It's just as important as the story itself.